Transition Tools

These changes can create potential problems within the transition process as information can get lost, people change, and the promises made to the local community are forgotten. Having a well-documented sustainability management system can help to minimize this potential. A commitment action log provides documentation of promises and commitments made to the local community, an opportunity register can document potential activities to improve the project, and a community agreement can document how the project and the community will work together. Tools like these can help to reduce risks through the transition and ensure that the project team understands the challenges and opportunities for successfully delivering the project.

Transitioning Stakeholder Engagement

One of the key challenges for the transition is to get everyone up to speed on the sustainability aspects of the project and ensure they are all aligned with the project objectives. As the project moves toward construction there will be many new people joining the project team and many new contractors joining the project. There are a number of steps that should be taken to manage the transition to construction. For internal teams it is important to:

• Review the project charter, including sustainability goals and objectives
• Ensure that commitments are well understood by the construction team, including contractors
• Review the project risk register
• Review the project opportunity register
• Discuss objectives and site rules with each of the contractors

For external stakeholders it is important to:

• Reengage with local community stakeholders and introduce the construction team
• Remind people about what will be happening
• Make sure communication channels are well established
• Meet with key regulators
• Meet with local government and stakeholder groups

Managing Local Impacts

The construction phase of the project is when many of the commitments and agreements made during the project consultation and development stage of the project become a reality. Stakeholder engagement needs to include a process for tracking these commitments, communicating progress to the local community, and adapting commitments to the realities of the construction phase.

For local communities, there are a number of project impacts that can lead to complaints such as construction activities creating noise, dust, traffic disruptions, and light pollution. There are also issues that can arise due to an influx of workers into the community, including impacts to housing, price of food, access to medical services, drugs, prostitution, and crime.

Before the construction activities get started it is important to make sure that there is baseline data in place for all potential project risks and major commitments. For example, if the community is worried about traffic disruption, make sure that you have traffic studies that document the time it takes to travel past the construction area before construction starts so that you have data to show the impact from construction. If the community is worried about the potential for an increase in the local crime rate during construction, work with local law enforcement to get baseline data on crime rates before construction starts, and then monitor crime rates during construction.

Key Messaging

The key messages that were developed during the design and approvals stages of the project need to be updated to reflect the realities of the construction phase and the changing impact on the local community. Some possible key messages for the construction phase of the project are listed below:

• The project will comply with the commitments made in the project approvals and community agreements
• Construction will meet the requirements of environmental regulations, project permits, and organizational best practices
• Strategies have been developed to minimize impacts on the local community, areas around the project site, and related transport routes, including dust and noise impacts
• The construction workforce will follow the project code of conduct and nonlocal workers will receive cultural awareness training to reduce the potential disturbance to the local communities
• Environmental monitoring will follow permit requirements and industry best practices to minimize any impacts on the local environment during construction
• The project team will continue to work closely with the community during construction to provide updates and respond to inquiries and complaints.

Communication Tools and Mechanisms

A number of community engagement and communication tools can be used during construction to deliver key messages, keep the community updated, and provide an opportunity for community feedback on the construction (see Table 12.1 and Chapter 6). The communication tools should be developed in the local language(s) to ensure that the community is getting the message and to ensure that the project is effectively communicating risks and activities.

Communication Planning

Communication with the local community should not be limited to responding to complaints or dealing with the most vocal members of the community. A proactive approach to communication involves developing a construction communication plan that documents who key stakeholders are and their issues of concern. In Chapter 6, a detailed approach to stakeholder engagement was outlined. However, the construction stage of the project requires an update to reflect construction challenges and increasing impacts on the local community.

The updated stakeholder engagement plan should include a stakeholder communications table (see Appendix D) that documents:

• Community and stakeholder groups that will be impacted by construction activities
• Stakeholder interests and expectations related to construction
• What needs to be communicated, including project notifications and crisis communications

  Engagement Tool	Description
  Public Meetings	Public meetings can be held to present project information to the community and discuss community concerns. Meetings can be held at the start of construction and when there is a change in project activities that would have an impact on the community.
  Group Meetings	Focused group meetings can provide specific information to groups that are interested in a construction-related topic.
  Site Tours	Tours of the construction site can provide community members and other stakeholders with a better understanding of construction. The tours can also include the monitoring programs to demonstrate how the project is responding to community concerns.
  Project Website	The project website should have a page focused on construction phase communications including updates, project activity notices, upcoming events, and monitoring data. The website page should also offer information about job opportunities and contracting opportunities that can be updated regularly. The website should include the ability for community members to comment or ask questions.
  Social Media	The project should also provide updates and notifications through social media. The project should identify and use social media sites that are popular with the local communities. The project may also be able to coordinate social media with the local government to leverage existing connections to share emergency notifications, for example.
  Traditional Media (Newspaper and Radio)	Some members of the local community will not be connected to social media, so it is also important to communicate using more traditional methods such as newspaper, radio, local TV, and paper flyers.
  Access Number and Email Address	A project phone number and email should be shared as another method for individuals to request further information or raise any concerns or complaints about the project.
  Site Signage	Site signage at the entrance to construction sites should be provided to warn people approaching the site of potential safety risks and construction activities. The signage should also be placed at any location where the local community could encounter construction activities (walking or cycling trails, hunting routes, etc.).

• Key messaging for the construction activities
• Communication tools that provide timely information regarding construction activities
• The timing of regular communications

Using stakeholder engagement software becomes more difficult during construction as the volume of communications increases significantly from the planning and approvals stages. The communications team should still develop systems and identify which communications will require formal tracking and which are less important. For example, complaints should be documented in a complaints system or in the stakeholder system, but inquiries about potential employment might be better managed by an employment tracking system.

Project Notification Procedure

A project notification procedure should be developed in order to ensure that the local community is receiving timely information regarding construction activities that might disrupt local events or cause concerns with the local community. The procedure specifically focuses on ensuring that the community is informed and consulted with regarding the project scheduling for activities that might cause disruptions or disturbances, such as impacting local roads or waterways. Notices could include road closures, transport of over-sized equipment, or blasting schedules.

The project notification procedure is an integral part of Permit to Work (PtW) system described below. It is important that logistics, contractors and construction planning understand the requirements to inform the community for certain activities. Advanced notification reduces the risk of project activities being delayed or blocked because of a community event or issue that interferes with the activity. This formal process also reduces the risk that a contractor will take it upon themselves to communicate with the local community and potentially create confusion with potentially mixed messages coming from various directions.

The Project Notification Procedure should include a number of key components:

1. Maintaining a rolling schedule of project activities that require community notification. The schedule should be forward looking 6 to 8 weeks ahead and updated weekly to ensure that the new items are added, and schedule changes are captured. A forward-looking schedule gives the communications team time to assess what communication is required and prepare the required notices.
2. Collaborating with logistics to maintain an updated delivery schedule for all shipments planned for the project especially any oversized shipments that may cause road closures or traffic slowdowns.
3. Identifying key local events that may be impacted by upcoming project activities so that construction and logistics teams can be informed of potential conflicts and adjust schedules accordingly.
4. Preparing draft project notification templates that can be used to for communicating about common project activities to reduce the time required for preparing and getting approval for notifications.
5. If project notifications need to be translated into a local language(s), then including time for translation in the notification procedure and schedule.
6. Identifying the communication media that is most effective for each type of notification.

Complaints Mechanism

The complaints process described in Chapter 8 provides an overall process for complaints. When the project moves into the construction phase, the complaints process should be modified to and expanded to include incident investigation and follow-up. Most major projects have an incident investigation or incident response process as part of the health and safety plans or environmental management systems. The same process can be applied to investigating community complaints to document the investigation, establish root cause and then plan and implement of the required corrective actions.

The incident response procedure should include a process to follow up with the contractor or team that caused the incident (or incited the complaint), as well as all other affected contractors. Ensure that corrective actions are included in revised work procedures to avoid future incidents. The incident response might include assigning follow-up monitoring to confirm that the issue was resolved and that the corrective actions are being followed The response to a community complaint should include a follow-up with the individual or group that lodged the complaint, discuss the issue and the steps taken to address the problem, and thank them for their feedback.

Communications Training

It is important for the entire team to be aware of the plans and their roles in communicating with the local community, regulators and media to ensure that the stakeholder communications plans are effective. For most construction employees and contractors, communications training will be part of onboarding program. Onboarding training should include the key messages communicated to the local community and the process for responding to enquiries from local politicians, environmental groups or media. Since many of the construction workers will also be local residents, the key messaging and internal training should reflect accurate and transparent communication with the local community. With the prevalence of cell phones and social media, biased communications or training materials could lead to complaints and a loss of community support.

A higher level of communications training should be provided for construction management teams, contractor managers and any team members who will be dealing directly with the local community or governments. The training should include:

• Key messages and available project communication documents
• Procedures for handling inquiries from the media, government officials, the public or unexpected visitors to the construction site
• Notification requirements and schedules
• Emergency response and crisis communication procedures,
• Complaints procedures
• Requirements for documenting and reporting engagements with the local community

Social Monitoring

It is important to monitor the effectiveness of the stakeholder engagement program during construction to make sure that the programs are working and to be able to respond to changing conditions, such as changeover of contractors in the construction team. We discussed the overall stakeholder and social monitoring program in Chapter 8, so this section focusses on some of the key issues for the construction phase.

Social monitoring during construction can help to ensure that the planned project activities around stakeholder engagement and support for the local community are implemented and generate the intended results. Monitoring can detect if unanticipated impacts or issues so that the project team can develop mitigation measures and change project activities if necessary, to avoid issues escalating into major problems. Monitoring can ensure compliance with government approvals, community agreements, commitments, and organizational goals, and is also required for reporting on stakeholder and community performance.

Monitoring the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement and communication programs helps ensure that the project is maintaining a good relationship with the local community and maintaining community support. Monitoring can include tracking a number of programs during construction, such as:

• Ensure that proactive communications plans are being followed so that community groups and members are getting regular project updates
• Monitor the complaints program to assess the frequency and severity of complains to ensure complaints are being followed up on, trends are identified, and repeating issues are addressed
• Collect data on local employment and local contracts to ensure that procurement and human resources programs are meeting project targets
• Track worker onboard training to ensure that communication requirements are being taught and documented

As construction progresses, the project team will learn what parts of the communication program are working well and which parts need to be updated. The communication program should be updated as necessary during construction to address areas that need improvement and to ensure that the project goals and objectives are being met. Any major changes to construction activities will also require updates to the stakeholder engagement program to ensure that new community issues don't arise because of changes to the construction planning.

Crisis Communications

Most major projects have crisis management and communications plans that address how the project will respond in the event of a crisis. Working with the local community to share information about crisis management and develop cooperative plans for dealing with a crisis can help to establish trust and build community support.

A crisis is a critical event which, if not managed, could grow into a more serious issue. It is important to distinguish between a crisis that requires the attention of project leadership, and a more serious emergency that requires the implementation of the project Emergency Response Plan. A crisis is not restricted to potential emergencies, but can be caused by a number of events such as:

• Environmental spill or damage
• Severe weather or a natural disaster
• Security incident or criminal activity
• Political disturbance or civil disorder
• Human rights abuses, disrespect for local culture or religion
• Labor unrest
• Public protest or NGO activities
• Disease event or pandemics

Transparent and open communications is essential during a crisis because misinformation and perception during this time can worsen the situation for both the project and the local community. The project should develop a Crisis Communications Plan (CCP) to identify potential events, provide response procedures, and ensure there is effective communication of the events. The CCP should identify roles and responsibilities for the project team so that everyone knows what to do and who should be included in the crisis response.

The CCP should also be developed in cooperation with the local community. Discussing the communications and response plans before construction starts gives local officials and groups (such as police, fire, and hospitals) the opportunity to provide input to the plan. When or if the time comes to respond to a crisis, then this upfront collaboration has helped ensure that all parties are aware of and understand their roles in executing the response.

Emergency Response

Similar to crisis management, major projects will have an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for Construction that outlines the types of potential emergencies, and the associated procedures and measures for each to provide an immediate and effective response. The ERP should also outline the roles and responsibilities, and chain of command that will come into effect in the event of an emergency.

Like the CCP, an ERP should be developed in cooperation with the local community. Most project emergencies will also affect the local community. To formalize this discussion, emergency response planning can be an element of the Community Agreement and include a statement of mutual-cooperation for emergency response. The ERP with the local community might include communications materials to clarify the types of emergencies that could occur during construction or operations. Communications should outline how an emergency response might occur, how they will be notified, and any requirements for the community to react to an emergency. For example, if the project involves the transport of fuels or dangerous chemicals, emergency response might require evacuation along transportation routes.

Discussion of an ERP should also include the equipment and supplies each group can bring to an emergency and what skilled resources are available. This might be everything from firefighting equipment and medical supplies to back-up power and water treatment equipment. In some cases, the project will need to draw on local community resources, and in other cases the project may need to provide support to the local community to ensure that an emergency is effectively managed.

Emergency Response Training

The key to a successful emergency response is to have well-trained emergency response personnel available and for everyone on the project team to be trained on what to do in the case of an emergency. Basic emergency response training should be included in orientation training for all site personnel to ensure that the ERP is well structured for a successful emergency response and that the project team can respond effectively.

Emergency response training is also one of the most valuable skills development activities for local workers. Emergency response skills can be used to support the local community and continue to be valuable once the project is finished. A local employee trained in emergency response can help with crisis communication with the local community, build connections to local first responders and provide support for both the project and community response efforts.

Environmental Management System

The Environmental Management System (EMS) provides a structured and systematic approach to manage environmental issues on a construction project. An EMS helps reduce project risks from environmental impacts and ensures that the construction activities are carried out in compliance with applicable permits and regulations, project commitments and industry best practices.

The system will include a number of specific plans and procedures that apply to different areas of the environment or specific work activities. The EMS will also include;

• Procedures for collecting and managing data
• Corrective actions to take in the event of that work is out of compliance
• Inspections and monitoring that will take place to keep the project on track
• Audits for the project team to check on contractors and work teams to ensure that the correct procedures are being followed
• Change management procedures to adjust the EMS to fit with changing construction plans or regulatory requirements
• Roles and responsibilities for activities within the EMS

Given the complexity of construction activities for a major project, the EMS can sometimes grow to be unmanageable. So, it is important for the EMS to have a clear structure so that team members know where to find the right information and what guidelines to follow. Some of the major plans that are included in an EMS are shown in Table 12.2 below.

Data Management

The amount and diversity of data that can be collected during construction is significantly higher than during operations and data can be located across a large geographic area. Operations may look at monitoring data from a set number of air emissions points or water discharges, but a construction EMS will be collecting data across the entire project development area. Data will include monitoring at every stream crossing, wildlife impacts and interactions, impacts from numerous pieces of construction equipment from trucks to electrical generators, and releases from camps and support infrastructure for hundreds of construction workers.

The EMS should include a robust environmental data management system that will allow the team to collect, store and report on environmental data to communities, regulatory inspectors, and auditors. It is strongly recommended that the EMS use a modern electronic data management system that can track environmental data using GIS capabilities, and upload field forms and photos directly from hand-held devices to reduce data entry requirements.

Having the environmental data in electronic form can also facilitate sharing the data with the local community and regulators. The expectations of local communities are growing and soon it will become a requirement to share monitoring data in near real-time so that the community can monitor the construction activities and ensure that the project is meeting their commitments and regulatory requirements. Voluntarily sharing data with the local community can also help to build trust that the project has nothing to hide and will work to transparently meet its promises, as shown by the story below.

Corrective and Preventative Action

The EMS should provide procedures for investigating and correcting problems and preventing the re-occurrence of issues with the construction activities. Issues that require corrective action could be those that do not conform with the project's permits, commitments or environmental plans and procedures, and are often referred to as non-conformances. Non-conformances can include;

• Minor non-conformances: an isolated issue that has not led to an impact yet, such as a team member re-fueling a truck without the required spill containment equipment, but no spill occurred, or
• Major non-conformances: a serious issue that has led to an incident such as a spill.

Non- conformances can be self-identified by construction teams, EMS audits, regulatory inspections or community complaints. A minor non-conformance can typically be dealt with through a conversation with the construction team in question and training in the correct procedures to use. A major non-conformance may require an investigation to document the details of the incident, evaluate the root cause, and ensure that action is taken to correct the issue and prevent future occurrences.

Inspections and Monitoring

Inspections and monitoring are conducted to ensure that the Project is meeting its commitments and regulatory requirements. With so many people involved in major projects and the variety of activities that will be completed throughout construction, it is important to develop inspection and monitoring programs that are flexible and adaptable.

Site inspections involve members of the project team conducting periodic tours of work sites to verify that work is being performed in conformance with plans and procedures. Site inspections should focus on activities that have the highest potential for significant environmental impact or risk, including:

• Storage and handling of hazardous materials (fuel and chemical)
• Control of dust and noise from equipment
• Erosion and sediment control near water bodies
• Control of air and water emissions
• Preparedness for spills and emergencies
• Waste management programs are being followed
• Ensuring teams are keeping proper documentation including monitoring data, toolbox records and Permit to Work procedures

Environmental monitoring could include daily, weekly, and monthly monitoring of the environmental condition at the site. Depending on the project-specific regulations and commitments, monitoring could include:

• Water use volumes
• Water discharge volumes and water quality
• Surface water quality
• Levels of dust and air emissions
• Noise levels
• Light pollution
• Wildlife interactions

Depending on the type of work involved, contractors may be required to monitor their own work to ensure that their work procedures and mitigation measures are effectively managing the issue. The monitoring program would include inspecting the work and performing occasional checks of the contractors sampling.

Audit Program

One of the requirements of a good management system is to audit performance to verify that proper plans and procedures are being used to ensure the project meets environmental performance expectations. Audit results can be shared with construction teams to improve performance, and with project management to evaluate overall sustainability performance.

Audits can be conducted by internal team members to provide a general assessment of the effectiveness plans and procedures. The project can also invest in external audits, conducted by certified third-party auditors, to assess the performance of the EMS program against industry best practices and other major projects. During construction, internal compliance audits can take place on a regular basis to ensure that individual construction teams are proactively managing environmental impacts. External audits typically occur less frequently but address the overall performance of the entire construction EMS, rather than the performance of a single team or contractor.

The scope of an audit program should include adherence to relevant environmental regulations and permits, as well as how the activities meet the requirements of project commitments and community agreements. The audit should determine the level of adherence to project plans and procedures and construction contract requirements and determine if corrective actions are being followed through on.

Change Management

The EMS should include a clear process for change management and continuous improvement. As construction progresses, the EMS can be updated based on the experience of the construction team and as improvements are made by team members or contractors. Change management procedures should include:

• Feedback from construction teams
• Improvements from responding to noncompliance issues, regulatory intervention, or community complaints
• Adoption of industry best practices from other projects or industries
• New information regarding environmental or social conditions at the project site

Roles and Responsibilities

Construction teams for major projects include many organizations and large numbers of people, so there is a clear benefit to defining roles and responsibilities for each group. The EMS should identify the roles and responsibilities for the organization's project team, the construction manager's team, contractors, and subcontractors.

The roles and responsibilities should include specific responsibilities for key team members within each of the organizations onsite like project managers, environmental managers, health and safety managers, logistics, and scheduling teams. The responsibilities should also be outlined for support roles like technical experts, local community liaison staff, environmental auditors, and government relations staff.

Kick-off Planning

A major challenge when working with contractors is that the contractor's site manager and the rest of the contractor's team may not have been involved in developing the proposal that described the work plan or been involved in negotiating the contract for the work. The contractor's business development team may have written sections on environmental management or sustainability integration that the contractor's site manager and the rest of the team have not been trained on or have had time to be prepared for.

One of the first steps when a contractor is ready to mobilize and start work on the site is to have a kick-off meeting to discuss the work, mobilization planning, and project requirements. Part of this review needs to include a discussion of the project goals to maintain the support of the local community and the sustainability requirements that are required for everyone working on the project. A standard agenda or set of topics to discuss with each of the contractor teams is required to ensure that they understand the project expectations and commit to working with the project team to deliver on these objectives. The agenda should include a review of relevant project commitments, any cultural issues that need to be addressed, sensitive environmental areas that need to be protected, and requirements for onboarding training. The agenda should also include a review of procurement contracts, and any actions the project team will take in the event that a contractor has disregarded the project rules and code of conduct (see Chapter 11 for more information on contracts).

Code of Conduct

The purpose of a code of conduct document is to provide a set of guidelines for how project team members should behave toward each other and toward the local community. It can become an integral part of sustainability training efforts and provide the project team with the ability to follow up on any issues being raised. The code of conduct can help to establish a common set of goals and objectives for the entire project team because everyone signs the same document. The code of conduct should include language from the project charter on what the team is trying to achieve and how they will achieve it. This will give everyone on the team a sense of being part of something bigger than just their individual piece of the project.

The code of conduct should include not just expected behavior for work on-site but also address behavior off-site. Construction workers are not just responsible for their conduct when they are working on site but are also responsible for their conduct off site, especially when engaging with the local community. This can include rules about not hunting or fishing around the project or the local community, for example, or not disturbing archeological or traditional sites.

The code of conduct is not intended to be a legal document, although in Chapter 11 we discussed how failure to follow the project code of conduct could result in contracts being cancelled. When drafting the code of conduct, consider that the document should be easy to read and follow but could also potentially end up in legal proceedings.

Some advice for developing an effective code of conduct:

1. Keep it short and in plain language. Remember that you are writing for a team that has a wide range of experience and educational background, so do not use legalese.
2. Have each individual sign, including managers, as part of onboarding training. For individuals who will be on the project for more than one year, an annual refresher is recommended.
3. Translate it into the local language so local workers can understand and the local community can see what expectations you have for the construction project.
4. Use active language, not passive language (like “You are required to follow the …”).

The code of conduct should be part of the onboarding training and should include examples and stories to better explain what acceptable and unacceptable behavior looks like. Helping construction team members understand why negative behavior might impact their coworkers from the community or the families that live near the project site. This can help to keep team members focused on positive behaviors.

Onboarding Training

It is standard on construction projects to have onboarding training that covers health and safety, emergency response, and day-to-day activities like washrooms and where everyone eats and sleeps. It is also important to integrate sustainability aspects into the onboarding training so that everyone has a common understanding of the project objectives and how they should behave. While this will increase the time required for onboarding training, the benefit of having a project that runs more smoothly and avoids issues creates an overall benefit for the project.

Some of the topics that should be included in onboarding training are:

• Project goals and objectives including sustainability goals
• Code of conduct training
• Cultural awareness training
• Environmental training for waste management, spills response, and wildlife interactions
• Permit to Work (PtW) system requirements
• How to raise an issue or report a problem
• The project's complaints mechanism

Environmental Incident Frequency Rate

A number of firms have started to use a comparable metric, the Environmental Incident Frequency Rate (EIFR), in order to track and create continuous improvement with respect to environmental performance.¹ The definition of EIFR was developed to directly compare to the TRIF rate for safety, and it is the number of “recordable” environmental incidents per 200,000 hours worked.

Unlike safety, where definitions of a “recordable” incident have been well developed over the last 30 years, the definition of a recordable environmental incident does not have a standard set of events that are classified as “recordable.” Each project might have a different set of issues and risks that need to be considered but, in general, recordable environment incidents should include events like:

• A noncompliance finding, fine, penalty, or action by a regulatory agency
• A confirmed complaint about the environment from the local community (i.e. noise/dust)
• A spill/release that requires reporting to the government or requires the use of spill containment equipment or resources
• A wildlife incident that results in the death or injury of an animal
• A release of air pollutants at levels above permitted or agreed upon levels
• A release of pollutants, sediment, or other materials into a water body

Social Incident Frequency Rate

An equivalent metric can be used for tracking social performance for the construction project. The Social Incident Frequency Rate (SIFR) captures the number of “recordable” social incidents per 200,000 hours worked. SIFR provides the project team with a simple way to track performance and compare the performance of construction teams and contractors. Tracking a social metric can allow the project team to assess which contractors are performing the best, which contractors need improvement, and how to capture and share best practices. Tracking a social metric can also allow the team to understand that the construction work could be creating an issue with the community before there is a loss of community support.

Identifying what a “recordable” social incident could be is even more challenging than identifying a recordable environmental incident. Each project will have a unique set of issues and challenges and the community will have a very different response to these issues depending on their previous experience with construction projects.

Events that can be included as social recordable incidents in a SIFR metric might include:

• A confirmed stakeholder complaint
• A grievance, complaint, or report of discrimination or harassment by an employee
• Negative press coverage
• Traffic accident involving project equipment or a project team member
• An unexpected or uncommunicated disruption of services or road closures in the community
• A crime by a project team member in the community or on site
• Property damage involving project equipment or a project team member

Construction sustainability metrics like the EIFR and the SIFR can help to improve sustainability performance during construction when used effectively. They provide a simple, composite metric that can be used to track and compare contractor performance. Similar to the effectiveness of the TRIF rate for safety, the EIFR and SIFR have the potential to improve overall environmental and social performance for the contractors and for the project as a whole.

Education

The core of building a sustainability culture is to ensure that project team members (employees and contractors) understand what is expected of them. The training and support should make it easy to understand and follow the expectations. Good practice should also include connecting behaviors with something that the workers already care, about as discussed in the story below.

Education to create a sustainability culture can include:

• Daily “toolbox” topics with social and environmental topics (see tip box at the end of this section)
• Orientation training
• Code of conduct training
• Cross-cultural training with local residents
• Work crews with local and non-local employees
• Photos of best practices
• Change management checklists that include sustainability checks

Evaluation

Evaluation processes can be implemented to track performance and provide feedback. The focus of evaluation should not be to create penalties for poor behavior, but rather to create incentives for good behavior. One of the most common forms of evaluating and communicating safety performance is the large sign at the entrance to the construction site that says, “It has been X days since our last lost time injury.” This provides a clear evaluation of the performance of the entire team. For sustainability, the team could add two more statements to the sign to communicate performance: “It has been X days since our last environmental incident,” and “It has been X days since our last formal complaint,”

Evaluation can assess performance against key sustainability metrics as well as key leading indicators or “near-miss” metrics that show how the team is working to avoid environmental and social incidents, such as:

• Frequency of environmental and social topics in daily toolbox talks
• Equipment inspection frequency
• Number of skills development and on-the-job training events
• Adherence to speed requirements on local roads

Encouragement

Encouragement takes the feedback from the evaluation and makes good behaviors desirable through incentives and peer pressure, such as creating competition between construction teams on who gets work done on schedule and on budget, as well as safely and with care for the environment and the local community. Encouragement could include:

• Spot awards for good behaviors
• Conversation/intervention cards for positive as well as negative behaviors
• Posting contractor performance scores for environmental and social metrics